Inherited an IRA? Your options, the deadlines and the first steps

Key points

• If the owner died in 2020 or later, most adult children and other named beneficiaries must empty the inherited IRA by December 31 of the 10th year after the death.
• If the owner died on or after their required beginning date, a beneficiary on that 10-year rule must also take an RMD every year, starting the year after the death.
• A surviving spouse, the owner’s child under 21, a disabled or chronically ill person, and anyone not more than 10 years younger than the owner can take withdrawals over their life expectancy instead.
• Unless you are the spouse, the money can move only by a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer into an account kept in the owner’s name for your benefit. A withdrawal paid to you cannot be put back.

An inherited IRA is an IRA you hold as a beneficiary after the owner dies. In the IRS’s words: “If you inherit a traditional IRA, you are called a beneficiary.” Who inherits is set by the beneficiary designation filed with the account, or by the account’s default terms if there is none.

These are the rules for owners who died in 2020 or later. Deaths in 2019 or earlier follow older rules, which IRS Publication 590-B points to separately. This guide covers federal rules, not state income tax.

We checked every rule and figure against the tax code, Treasury regulations, the Federal Register and IRS publications on October 27, 2026. They are listed at the end. For RMDs in general, see our guide to required minimum distributions. To work out a beneficiary’s RMD, use our RMD calculator and choose the inherited option.

What to do first when you inherit an IRA

A few early moves are hard or impossible to undo.

1. Do not cash it out by accident. You can take everything at once. The IRS says beneficiaries “have the option of taking a lump-sum distribution of the inherited account at any time.” But the taxable part is income in the year you take it, and a beneficiary who is not the spouse cannot roll any of it back into an IRA.
2. Know the limits of an inherited IRA. Unless you are the spouse and make the IRA your own, you cannot add your own contributions. If you move it to another provider, the new IRA must be “set up and maintained in the name of the deceased IRA owner for the benefit of you as beneficiary,” and the money must go by trustee-to-trustee transfer.
3. Find three facts: the owner’s date of birth, the date of death, and whether the owner had taken their RMD for the year of death.
4. Take any RMD the owner missed in the year of death. The section on the year-of-death RMD below explains it.
5. If you might refuse the account, decide before you touch it. A qualified disclaimer must be in writing, generally within 9 months of the death, and you must not have accepted the interest or any of its benefits. A disclaimed share then passes on without any direction from you.

The deadlines in the first two years

Deadline	What happens
December 31 of the year of death	The owner’s unpaid RMD for that year, if any, is due. A late catch-up can still be penalty-free (see below).
Generally 9 months after the death	Last day for a qualified disclaimer.
September 30 of the year after the death	The beneficiaries who count are fixed. Anyone who disclaimed or was paid out in full by then is ignored.
October 31 of the year after the death	Workplace plans only: proof of disability or chronic illness, and trust documents, due to the plan administrator.
December 31 of the year after the death	First life expectancy RMD for most eligible designated beneficiaries. First yearly RMD under the 10-year rule if the owner died on or after their required beginning date. Last day to split a shared IRA into separate accounts.

The three types of IRA beneficiary

Eligible designated beneficiary. An individual who, on the date of the death, was the owner’s surviving spouse, the owner’s child under 21, disabled, chronically ill, or not more than 10 years younger than the owner. The tax code says this status “shall be made as of the date of death.” Our guide to eligible designated beneficiaries covers each category, the exact definitions and the proof required.

Designated beneficiary. Any other individual the owner named. That includes most adult children, grandchildren and friends, unless one of the eligible categories also fits them.

Not a designated beneficiary. Anything that is not an individual. The regulation’s example is “the employee’s estate”. A charity counts here too, and so does a trust that fails the see-through rules. If the owner named a person and a non-individual on the same account, the account is treated as having no designated beneficiary. That changes if the non-individual’s share is paid out by September 30 of the year after the death, or the shares are split into separate accounts.

A trust named as beneficiary is not a designated beneficiary itself. If it meets the see-through rules, its beneficiaries are treated as named instead. Our eligible designated beneficiary guide covers trusts in brief.

Several people sharing one IRA. If any one of them is not an eligible designated beneficiary, the account is treated as having no eligible designated beneficiary, unless one of them is the owner’s child under 21. Splitting the IRA into separate accounts by December 31 of the year after the death lets each share follow its own beneficiary’s rules.

Inherited IRA options by beneficiary type

The second thing that matters is whether the owner died before or after their required beginning date (RBD). For an IRA, that is April 1 of the year after the year the owner reached RMD age:

• Born from 1951 to 1958: RMD age 73, so an RBD in 2025 to 2032.
• Born in 1960 or later: RMD age 75.
• Born before 1951: RMD age 72 or 70½. All of these owners reached their RBD by April 1, 2023.
• Born in 1959: unsettled. The law assigns both 73 and 75, the final regulations leave the point “Reserved”, and proposed regulations say 73. Our RMD age guide has the details.

Withdrawals the owner made before the RBD do not change the answer. The regulation says the rule “applies even if the employee has received distributions before the employee’s required beginning date.”

Beneficiary	Owner died before the RBD	Owner died on or after the RBD
Surviving spouse	Treat as own or roll over. Or stay a beneficiary: life expectancy payments, which a sole beneficiary can delay (see below), or the 10-year rule.	Treat as own or roll over. Or stay a beneficiary: life expectancy payments.
Other eligible designated beneficiary	Life expectancy payments from the year after the death, or the 10-year rule if elected.	Life expectancy payments from the year after the death.
Owner’s child under 21	Life expectancy payments until 21, then empty within 10 years. Or the 10-year rule if elected.	Life expectancy payments until 21, then empty within 10 years.
Designated beneficiary who is not eligible	10-year rule. Nothing is due until the 10th year.	10-year rule, plus an RMD every year from the year after the death.
Not a designated beneficiary	5-year rule: empty by December 31 of the 5th year after the death.	Yearly RMDs over the owner’s remaining life expectancy.

Life expectancy payments mean a yearly RMD: the inherited IRA’s balance on the prior December 31, divided by a factor from the IRS Single Life Table. For a beneficiary other than a spouse, the factor is set at the beneficiary’s age in the year after the death and drops by 1 each year. When the owner died on or after the RBD, a beneficiary uses the owner’s remaining life expectancy instead if it is longer. A spouse who is the sole beneficiary uses a different method, covered below. Our inherited IRA RMD guide shows the full calculation.

Electing the 10-year rule. According to Publication 590-B, most IRAs put eligible designated beneficiaries on life expectancy payments “unless such beneficiaries elect to take distributions using the 10-year rule.” That choice exists only when the owner died before the RBD. The deadline is the earlier of December 31 of the year the first life expectancy RMD is due and December 31 of the 10th year. The IRA’s own terms decide the details.

Every beneficiary can take more than the minimum in any year. Taking extra in one year does not reduce a later year’s RMD.

The year-of-death RMD

If the owner died on or after their RBD and had not taken the full RMD for the year of death, the beneficiaries must take the rest. It is figured “as if the owner lived for the entire year,” using the table the owner would have used, usually the Uniform Lifetime Table.

The IRS waives the penalty automatically if the beneficiary takes the missing amount by their tax filing deadline for the year of death, including extensions, or by the end of the following year if that is later.

Worked example. The owner was born in 1950 and would have turned 76 in 2026. They died in 2026 without taking their 2026 RMD. The IRA held $400,000 on December 31, 2025. The Uniform Lifetime Table factor at 76 is 23.7, so the 2026 RMD is $400,000 ÷ 23.7 = $16,877.64. The beneficiary takes $16,877.64 out in 2026. If that slips, the penalty is waived as long as it comes out by the later of the beneficiary’s extended 2026 filing deadline and December 31, 2027. You can check this figure in the calculator.

If the owner died before the RBD, nothing is due for the year of death. The beneficiary rules start the following year.

How the 10-year rule works

The 10-year rule means the account must be empty by December 31 of the year that contains the 10th anniversary of the death. For a death on any day in 2026, that is December 31, 2036. It applies to:

• designated beneficiaries who are not eligible designated beneficiaries
• eligible designated beneficiaries who elect it, when the owner died before the RBD
• whoever inherits from an eligible designated beneficiary who was taking life expectancy payments, counted from that beneficiary’s death, unless an earlier deadline already applied
• the owner’s child who inherited before 21, counted from the 21st birthday

If the owner died before the RBD, nothing is required in the first nine years. Publication 590-B: “no distribution is required for any year before the 10th year.”

If the owner died on or after the RBD, the beneficiary must also take an RMD in each year after the death, and still empty the account by year 10. The IRS did not assert the penalty for missed yearly amounts of this kind for 2021 to 2024. The final regulations require them from 2025.

Worked example. The owner was born in 1950, so their RMD age was 72 and their RBD was April 1, 2023. They died in 2026. Their daughter, born in 1975, inherits the IRA. She is a designated beneficiary but not an eligible one. The inherited IRA holds $380,000 on December 31, 2026.

• Her factor: the Single Life Table at her 2027 age, 52, is 34.3.
• The owner’s remaining life expectancy: 14.1 at 76, the owner’s age in the year of death, less 1 for 2027, is 13.1.
• She uses the longer one, 34.3. Her 2027 RMD is $380,000 ÷ 34.3 = $11,078.72.
• In 2028 her factor is 33.3, and so on. Whatever is left must be out by December 31, 2036.

Run these numbers in the calculator. Change the owner’s birth year to 1962 (a death before the RBD) and the 2027 RMD drops to zero, with the same December 31, 2036 deadline.

Our 10-year rule guide covers the year-by-year detail and how to spread withdrawals.

If you inherit an IRA from your spouse

A surviving spouse has three choices, more than any other beneficiary.

• Treat it as your own IRA. Only a spouse who is the sole beneficiary with an unlimited right to withdraw can do this. If a trust is named as beneficiary, it is not available even when the spouse is the trust’s only beneficiary. From then on, RMDs follow your own age, and withdrawals before 59½ may face the 10% additional tax.
• Roll it over into your own IRA. Unlike other beneficiaries, a spouse can roll over a distribution within 60 days, as long as it is not a required distribution.
• Stay a beneficiary. Withdrawals avoid the 10% additional tax at any age. If the owner died before the RBD and you are the sole beneficiary, you can wait to start RMDs until the end of the year the owner would have reached RMD age.

A spouse’s life expectancy factor. If you are the sole beneficiary, stay a beneficiary and take life expectancy payments, the final regulations use the Single Life Table at your age, looked up again each year. IRS Publication 590-B (2025) says a spouse who is the sole beneficiary “may use” Table III, the Uniform Lifetime Table, instead. Proposed regulations from July 2024 would apply the Uniform Lifetime Table in some cases. They were not final on October 27, 2026.

You are treated as having made the IRA your own if you put contributions into it, or if you skip an RMD you owe as a beneficiary. Our spousal inherited IRA guide compares the three choices.

Taxes on an inherited IRA

• Income tax. “Beneficiaries of a traditional IRA must include in their gross income any taxable distributions they receive.” If the owner made nondeductible contributions, that basis stays with the inherited IRA and you track it on a separate Form 8606.
• No 10% early withdrawal tax. The tax code exempts payments “made to a beneficiary (or to the estate of the employee) on or after the death of the employee,” whatever the beneficiary’s age. The payer reports them with code 4 on Form 1099-R. A spouse who treats the IRA as their own loses this exemption.
• Withholding. IRA withdrawals payable on demand are nonperiodic payments. The default federal withholding is 10%, and Form W-4R lets you choose any rate from 0% to 100%.
• Estate tax. If federal estate tax was paid on the IRA, a beneficiary may be able to deduct the estate tax on the part of a distribution that is income with respect to a decedent.
• Missed RMDs. The excise tax is 25% of the shortfall. It drops to 10% if, within the correction window, you take the missed amount and file a return reporting the tax. Anything left after the 10-year deadline counts as a shortfall too.

Our guide to taxes on an inherited IRA works through how withdrawals stack on top of your other income.

Inherited Roth IRAs and inherited 401(k)s

Inherited Roth IRA. The rules apply “as though the Roth IRA owner died before his or her required beginning date.” So a beneficiary on the 10-year rule has no yearly RMDs, only the 10-year deadline. Eligible designated beneficiaries can still take life expectancy payments. Withdrawals are tax free once 5 years have passed from the start of the first tax year the owner contributed to a Roth IRA. Before then, the earnings part can be taxable. See our inherited Roth IRA guide.

Inherited 401(k). The IRS says “the plan document establishes the distribution options available to satisfy the RMD rules.” If the owner died before their required beginning date, a plan can require the 10-year rule for some or all eligible designated beneficiaries. A non-spouse beneficiary can move plan money to an inherited IRA, but only “by a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer into an inherited IRA.” See our inherited 401(k) guide.

More than one inherited IRA. You can total the RMDs on the IRAs you inherited from the same person and take them from any one or more of them. You cannot combine them with your own IRAs or with IRAs inherited from someone else, and Roth and traditional IRAs stay separate.

About this guide

Written by the Diversify Guy editorial desk. Diversify Guy is a pen name. It is the byline of our editorial team, not a single individual. We do not publish personal trading records or claim to be your adviser. We tell you where every figure came from so you can check it yourself. How we work and how we get paid.

This guide explains federal rules. It is not personalized tax or investment advice. Diversify Guy earns affiliate commissions and advertising fees from companies featured elsewhere on the site. This page carries no ads and no affiliate links.

Sources and check dates

All sources were fetched and checked on October 27, 2026.

• IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs): https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b
• IRS Publication 590-A (2025), Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs): https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590a
• IRS, Retirement topics: Beneficiary, page last updated August 1, 2026: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-beneficiary
• Internal Revenue Code section 401(a)(9)(E) and (H), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapD-partI-subpartA-sec401.htm
• Internal Revenue Code section 408(d)(3)(C) (no rollover of inherited IRAs), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapD-partI-subpartA-sec408.htm
• Internal Revenue Code section 72(t)(2)(A)(ii) (no 10% additional tax after death), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapB-partII-sec72.htm
• Internal Revenue Code section 2518 (qualified disclaimers), Cornell LII copy of the U.S. Code: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/2518
• Internal Revenue Code section 152(f)(1) (child), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapB-partV-sec152.htm
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-1 (effective date for deaths from 2020), eCFR, title 26 up to date as of October 23, 2026: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-1
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2 (RMD age and required beginning date): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-2
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-3 (death before the required beginning date, the 5-year and 10-year rules, the spouse’s delay): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-3
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-4 (designated and eligible designated beneficiaries, trusts): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-4
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-5 (death on or after the required beginning date, the 10-year limit): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-5
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-8 (separate accounts): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-8
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9 (Single Life and Uniform Lifetime Tables): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-9
• 26 CFR 1.408-8 (IRA rules: Roth IRAs, spouse election, documentation, aggregation): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.408-8
• Internal Revenue Code section 4974(e) (the 10% rate and the correction window), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleD-chap43-sec4974.htm
• 26 CFR 54.4974-1 (excise tax, correction window and the year-of-death waiver): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-54.4974-1
• Final RMD regulations, T.D. 10001, Federal Register, July 19, 2024: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/19/2024-14542/required-minimum-distributions
• Proposed RMD regulations, REG-103529-23, Federal Register, July 19, 2024: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/19/2024-14543/required-minimum-distributions
• Federal Register search of IRS documents on required minimum distributions published since July 1, 2024 (run October 27, 2026; it found only the final and proposed regulations above): https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents.json?per_page=100&order=newest&conditions%5Bterm%5D=%22required+minimum+distributions%22&conditions%5Bagencies%5D%5B%5D=internal-revenue-service&conditions%5Bpublication_date%5D%5Bgte%5D=2024-07-01
• IRS Notice 2024-35: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-24-35.pdf
• 2026 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099r.pdf
• 2026 Form W-4R: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4r.pdf